Retired Army captain goes on rampage in Palwal, kills six

Agencies
January 2, 2018

Palwal (Haryana), Jan 2: A retired Army captain, believed to be mentally ill, today allegedly bludgeoned six persons to death with a rod in a killing spree here that lasted about two hours, police said.

The accused, identified as Naresh Dhankhad (45), went on the rampage between 2 to 4 am in a two km stretch between Agra Chowk and Camp Colony, taking advantage of low visibility due dense fog.

He killed his first victim in the second floor of a private hospital, before hitting the streets to kill five others and injure one.

A resident of Macchgar near Ballabhgarh, Dhankhad also attacked the policemen when they tried to nab him.

He had joined the Army in 1999 as a lieutenant and taken retirement on medical grounds in 2003. He then joined the Haryana Agriculture department as an assistant developmentofficer in 2006, a police spokesperson said.

He was working as a sub-divisional officer with the Health Department.

His first victim was a woman named Anjum who was an attendant of a person admitted in the ICU of the hospital. She was sleeping on the second floor where the accused managed to gain entry, Palwal Superintendent of Police Sulochana Gajraj said.

The incident was recorded on a CCTV camera and the accused can be purportedly seen coming inside the doors wearing trousers and a sweater and carrying the rod.

He then went to Agra Road intersection where he killed three more people. Then a little farther, he killed two others by repeatedly hitting them on the head.

Gajraj said as soon as the police received information, they started sending people, who were either sleeping or working outside, indoors.

She said checkpoints were set up in the town, which is 80 km from Delhi. "When we zeroed-in on him, he was searching for another target and almost had his seventh victim as he had injured him," she said.

He was arrested around 7 am when he was roaming in a street near a private hospital in Palwal, the SP said, adding that thick fog in the town had reduced visibility making it easy for the accused to target the victims.

Dhankar tried to resist arrest and even assaulted the policemen before being overpowered, she said.

The SP said that Dhankar appeared to be mentally ill. However, doctors would be able to throw more light on this, she added.

"He appeared to be mentally ill and looked highly aggressive. Preliminary investigations have revealed that he had strained relations with his wife and two children," she said.

She said the accused, who has been booked on murder charge, was referred to the civil hospital at Faridabad. His psychological evaluation would be carried out.

Deputy Superintendent of Police Abhimanyu Lohan said prima facie it seemed that he carried out the killings without a reason.

A high alert was sounded in the city, the police spokesperson said.

The spokesperson said Dhakhad got married 10 years ago and separated from his wife four years later. Dhankad was the youngest of five brothers.

His brother, Chandrapal, claimed that Dhankhad was mentally ill and was being treated by a doctor in Muradnagar, the spokesperson said.

He claimed that his brother had completed MSc from Haryana Agriculture University in Hisar where he was one of toppers.

A doctor at the hospital at Faridabad where the accused was brought by the police told reporters that he was unconscious at the time he was wheeled in.

The neighbours at the place, where the former Army officer lived, told reporters that he did not like to interact much and preferred to be alone.

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News Network
January 30,2020

New Delhi, Jan 30: In a major shift of strategy ahead of the Delhi assembly polls, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has decided to rope in its senior leaders for massive public rallies.

Its star campaigners like Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP chief JP Nadda, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, and other union ministers would now be addressing massive public rallies in addition to ongoing neighbourhood meetings.

"The big rallies would begin from February 1. While 'Nukkad' meetings will take place till the last day of campaigning, there would be big rallies of the top leadership of the party, " informed a senior party leader.

Sources said the BJP has changed its strategy after the success of its grassroots contact programme as the party wants to consolidate its gains.

"As part of the reworked strategy the BJP has asked its various Mandals to organise public meetings of 10,000-15,000 people in each assembly segment to reach out to the masses," sources added.

While there are two planned for Prime Minister Modi, two have been planned for JDU chief and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar along with Nadda and Amit Shah. Yogi Aadityanath too would be addressing 12 rallies.

The party is leaving no stone unturned to secure massive gains, which it feels can be converted to victory in the forthcoming polls.

Party sources feel that the relentless campaigning under the guidance of Amit Shah and Nadda has ensured that the morale of party cadre is at an all-time high.

"The neighbourhood meetings have ensured that we have been able to make the people of Delhi aware of the lack of work under the Arvind Kejriwal led Aam Aadmi Party government. They have also been apprised about the anti-national views of the opponents and we think that this is expected to turn the polls into our favour," sources added.

Delhi is scheduled for assembly polls on February 8 and the results for the 70 constituencies will be declared on February 11.

As part of the new strategy, senior leaders like JP Nadda, Amit Shah, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, ministers like Rajnath Singh and Smriti Irani would be holding public rallies in various parts of the city. Several other chief ministers from various BJP ruled states are also expected to be roped in for the campaign.

The strategy for reach out to the masses is an attempt at weakening the hold of AAP on Delhi. With positive feedback coming after the success of the neighbourhood meetings in the past week, the BJP is now looking to increase its potential reach with polls just days away.

Till now the party had deployed 70 union ministers to hold at least one public meeting and one 'padayatra' each as part of the campaign.

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Agencies
January 9,2020

Noida, Jan 6: A fire broke out at the ESIC Hospital in Noida on Thursday morning and firefighting was underway, officials said.

The blaze broke out in the basement of the seven-storey hospital building located in Sector 24, a police official said.

Fire tenders were rushed to the spot after the Fire Department was alerted about it around 8 am, the official said.

After that, a search was done to see if anyone was trapped in the building, he said.

The cooling process is now underway.

He said the fire had engulfed the ground, first and second floors of the building, except the basement.

Police said they received information about fire at Kaveri printing press at 2:45 am, when the manager Yogesh called them. The press owners have been identified as Atul and Anuj Goyal, residents of Sukhdev Vihar, they said.

The man who died in the fire has been identified as Phool Dev, from Bihar, who used to work as a help there. Dev went inside the building in the night to sleep before the fire started and died due to suffocation, the fire department official said.

The body has been kept at Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital and the post-mortem will be done once the family reaches here, police said.

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News Network
January 6,2020

Jan 6: Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy on Sunday said the country's economy is not showing good signs though Prime Minister Narendra Modi has manifested tremendous leadership skills in fighting terror and in social welfare projects.

The fiscal decisions of the government have not yielded the desired results, the Rajya Sabha MP said here.

"Modi had shown tremendous leadership skill in fighting terror, in several social areas, micro areas like bringing toilets to every village home. But the economy is a complex system...," he said while taking part in a discussion.

While every minister is talking about a 5 trillion dollar economy by 2024, but the current GDP growth has to be multiplied in four years to achieve that, the former Union minister said.

He said, if wages are slashed as a measure to cope with the situation, labor will become cheap but that will also cut down the people's purchasing power triggering dip in demand, closing down factories and rise in unemployment.

"This is one problem for which you really need an economist," he said.

Swamy said in jest, "I think Modi has one problem with me. Not only I am an economist but also a politician."

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